Monument The Beerse Healer
It is Maundy Thursday in 1865. Dark clouds are gathering above the old St Willibrord’s Church in Middelbeers. And then: a flash, followed by a loud crash – lightning strikes the church.
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It is Maundy Thursday in 1865. Dark clouds are gathering above the old St Willibrord’s Church in Middelbeers. And then: a flash, followed by a loud crash – lightning strikes the church. Three women are inside; one of them dies, another is unharmed and the third suffers an injury to her hand. And it is precisely that hand to which the woman attributes healing powers from that moment on. If she strokes a wound, it is said to heal. People came from far and wide to visit her, desperate for a cure. In popular folklore, she is known as De Beerse Strijkster.
Centuries later, the Strijkster is still present in the village. Firstly, through the name ‘Strijkersgat’ that Middelbeers bears during Carnival. And since 2020, in the form of this statue, as a tribute to the legend. The statue was created by artist Tom l’Istelle and is part of the Landkunst Dal van de Kleine Beerze project.
This text has been translated using AI.